November 12, 2017

The Liberal and Conservative parties voted together on Wednesday in Canada’s House of Commons to kill a bill that would have added the right to housing to the Canadian Bill of Rights.

Bill C-325, An Act to amend the Canadian Bill of Rights (right to housing), introduced by NDP MP Rachel Blaney (North Island-Powell River), was defeated at second reading 42-243 with NDP, Greens and Bloc voting for the motion [1].

Blaney, the Party’s Critic for Seniors and Deputy Critic for Infrastructure and Communities, explained that “in 1976, Canada enshrined the fundamental right to housing when the government of the day ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but this right has never been formally incorporated into Canadian law”.

This bill would make it happen, according to the MP.

“Bill C-325 is about dignity,” Blaney told the House of Commons during the second reading debate. “Human rights are that, moral principles.